Erstellt am: 2. 3. 2013 - 13:00 Uhr

Meeting Ban Ki-moon

An encounter with the United Nations Secretary General who has been heavily criticized for his perceived softness.

“We must help young people shape their own future,” the United Nation's Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon tells me, “a better future, in a better, more tolerant world with a decent job, better opportunities so that they can contribute their potential and their vision to the development of this world.”

This is the sort of idealistic proclamation many people have come to expect from the United Nations – and who could disagree with that aim? But less clear is how the leader of this massive bureaucratic colossus thinks his organisation should go about achieving that lofty goal, and that's what my FM4 colleague Robert Zikmund and I hope to find out. Ban Ki-moon, sitting quietly behind a cup of green tea, has granted us a rare audience in the glamorous environment of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna to talk about “global youth issues”.

For us it's a chance to get a glimpse of an elusive figure who fronts the most powerful international organisation in the world, and yet once in frustration said he had become “an invisible man.” So who is Ban Ki-moon and what can he do for us?

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On a human level, it's hard not to like Ban. There is a natural humility in the way he rises from his seat to greet us. He peers kindly through his glasses as I clumsily attempt a greeting in Korean and cocks his head endearingly to the side as he listens to questions, then leans forward before enunciating his answers in slow, deliberate sentences, taking much care with his much maligned English diction. Modesty and gentleness are prized leadership qualities in the East, but, particularly in the Western media, he has been heavily criticized for his perceived softness.

Being famed for your courtesy is something to be proud of in world politics, but is Ban too ‘nice’?

Ahead of this meeting with Ban, Thomas G. Weiss, a politics professor at the City University of New York and author of several books on the UN, told me that the South Korean diplomat was on his way to being remembered as the “worst UN Secretary-General in history” because, Weiss argues, he is too eager to please.

Weiss, who has penned a book called "What's Wrong with the United Nations and How to Fix it" accuses Ban of being too slow to react, too reticent in expressing his opinion on important issues: “I'd like to see him irritate the USA and China on climate change and irritate the Southern nations on human rights issues.” Harmony is good, but Weiss says Ban wants “everyone to love him” and, by retreating from confrontation, that he has become an irrelevant figure on the global stage.

When I mention that he has been compared unfavourably to his predecessor Kofi Annan, the Ghanaian who vehemently opposed the US invasion of Iraq, Ban becomes quite passionate as he defends his record: “I have been even stronger and more outspoken than anybody else in the world. I have been the champion of human rights and human dignity and of promoting the well-being of youth and promoting the opportunities of women and girls. And I will continue to do that.”

A difficult period for the United Nations

These have been difficult months for the United Nations. In November last year rebels siezed the Congolese town of Goma as the blue-helmets, sent there to protect the town, purportedly stood idly by. What is the point of peacekeepers who don't keep the peace? Every day dozens of civilians are killed and the UN, hindered by a deep split in the Security Council, fails to protect them. What's the point of a Security Council that can't provide security?

Last month Haitians, who blame UN peacekeepers from Nepal for the deadly cholera outbreak, have been outraged at Ban Ki-moon's recent announcement that the victims will not be compensated. Before the arrival of the peacekeepers, Haiti had been cholera-free for 200 years and the UN itself admitted that the strains of cholera isolated in Nepal and Haiti "were a perfect match". A lawyer for the victim Ira Kurzban has vowed to hold Ban accountable.

And finally, after the disappointment of the 2009 UN climate summit in Copenhagen we are left to cheer minute steps forward in global ecological policy even as the scientists warn of the catastrophic effects of inactivity. Why should we believe in the UN's relevance as a powerful voice and a powerful actor?

"We're at the forefront"

Ban says that “overall it has been the United Nations that has been at the forefront in preserving peace and security, protecting human lives and providing humanitarian assistance to wherever to people have needed support.”

Ban has just returned from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia where he brokered the signing of a major peace accord for the Great Lakes region. It is aimed at bringing lasting stability to the troubled eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been a global hotspot for civil conflict and human rights abuses. The Addis Ababa accord involved leaders and representatives of 11 African nations and Ban sees it as a major breakthrough in finally creating lasting peace in a region of great potential riches that has for years been consumed by chaos. If you are looking for a concrete example of the UN's power, Ban suggests, here you have it.

I ask Ban what his proudest achievement has been in his tenure as Secretary General. He lists the support the UN provided during the Arab Spring, the positive outlook for many of the Millennium Global Development goals and his pushing of the fight against climate change to the top of the global agenda.

Leading the struggle against climate change

Indeed, from his first day in office Ban has championed the issue of climate change – always finding the right words to articulate the gravity of the threat. Yet many ecologists would argue that in terms of positive concrete actions to tackle or mitigate global warming, precious little has been achieved. I was at the much-hyped UN climate summit in Copenhagen, which environmentalists subsequently dismissed as a “train wreck”. Has Ban failed in his most cherished goal?

“The UN process is going in the right direction. We have never failed,” he insists. “There might have been some occasions where the international community was not able to reach a firm agreement such as at Copenhagen in 2009. But in 2010 in Cancun, 2011 in Durban and 2012 in Doha member states have agreed on key milestone decisions such as extending the Kyoto Protocol's second commitment period and establishing a scientific centre and creating a green climate fund. We are moving in the right direction to have a legally binding treaty on climate change.”

Listening to the world's youth

Global opinion surveys consistently indicate that the degradation of the environment and the consequences of climate change are key concerns of the younger generation and Ban Ki-moon seems sincere in his commitment to listen to younger voices. He has created a new post at the UN - a Special Envoy on Youth, and has appointed 29 year old Ahmad Alhindawi to the job.

Ban says he is very impressed by the “vision and dynamism” of his Jordanian protégé, although it is yet to be seen what practical value the role will have. At 29 years old, Alhindawi is indeed young, but the median age of the world's population is just 28, so he is in the older half of a humanity that is still mostly ruled by grey-haired men of 69-year old Ban's generation.

This is proving to be a source of dangerous disillusionment. The Arab Spring was largely driven by the energy and tenacity of young activists, but many of them now feel side-lined as the futures of their countries are decided by career politicians. Their own revolutions seem to have fallen out of their hands. “We were impressed by all the young people who came to Tahrir Square asserting their dignity and demanding their human rights and job opportunities,” says Ban. “I have been telling world leaders to pay attention to these people and to listen to the aspirations of young people. They are the leaders of tomorrow. We have to ensure that they will be able to shape their own future. That is our own responsibility.”

What makes Ban Ki-moon angry?

I am curious to know what angers the UN Secretary General? “I get angry when I see so many unacceptable, intolerable situations where human rights and dignity are abused and violated. I am angry when women and girls are raped and when their human dignity is violated. I have been speaking out loudly and clearly saying that the perpetrators of gross violations of human rights must be brought to justice. I will continue to do so. I have also been speaking out about the situations in which we are not doing enough to address climate change.” You get the feeling that behind the polite exterior it really annoys Ban Ki-moon when journalists suggest he never takes a stance.

Ban has been very outspoken on one particular subject – homophobia. During a speech at the UN headquarters commemorating Human Rights Day, Ban condemned countries with anti-gay laws, mentioning 76 countries that criminalize homosexuality and saying that “it is an outrage that in our modern world, so many countries continue to criminalize people simply for loving another human being of the same sex.” Some member state representatives left the room. “Every human being was born with an equal right", Ban tells me in the Hotel Sacher. ”This is a basic principle of the United Nations charter and the Universal Declaration of human rights. Nobody should be discriminated against or maltreated because of their sexual orientation. Everybody should have an equal right as a human being.”

So what does he say to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has outlawed “public actions directed at promoting sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism to minors” or the Ugandan President Yosewi Museveni, who has signed a draconian anti-homosexuality law which seems to encourage violence against gays. “I have spoken to these leaders very directly to say that they should abolish all the laws or provisions which may criminalize those people with a different sexual orientation. I am optimistic that we will be able to make this world better and more equal for all of us.”

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So finally how would Ban Ki-moon like to be remembered? “I want to be remembered as the Secretary General who has been working very hard to promote basic human rights and dignity for those many marginalised people, particularly women or girls in many poor countries. And on global issues I really want to see the globally binding climate change treaty signed by 2015 and ratified by 2020.”

Ban Ki-moon has until the end of 2016 to prove his critics wrong.

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